(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The Conservative party remains ahead of its competitors in Canada’s electoral race, according to a poll by Angus Reid Strategies released by the Toronto Star. 40 per cent of respondents would support the governing Tories in this month’s election to the House of Commons.

The Liberal party is second with 25 per cent, followed by the New Democratic Party (NDP) with 19 per cent, the Bloc Québécois with 11 per cent, and the Green party with six per cent. Support for the Grits increased by four points in a week, while backing for the NDP fell by two points.

Canadians renewed the House of Commons in January 2006. The Conservative party—led by Stephen Harper—received 36.3 per cent of the vote, and secured 124 seats in the 308-member lower house. Harper formed a minority administration after more than 12 years of government by the Liberal party. In December 2006, former environment minister Stéphane Dion became the new leader of the Liberals.

Yesterday, Dion criticized NDP leader Jack Layton, saying, "His first decision will be to impose to our hardworking business person in this country an increase in the tax burden of $50 billion. (…) It would be a job killer for workers and their families." Layton dismissed Dion’s comments, saying, "Mr. Dion supported [Harper] 43 times on everything [he] wanted to do."

The next federal election in Canada is scheduled for Oct. 14.

Polling Data

If a federal election were held tomorrow, which one of the following parties would you be most likely to support in your constituency?

Source: Angus Reid Strategies / Toronto Star
Methodology: Online interviews with 1,176 Canadian adults, conducted on Oct. 2 and Oct. 3, 2008. Margin of error is 2.8 per cent.

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